Meet the team

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Meet our Autonomy Care Group Directors

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Andrew Dykes

Chairman

Andrew is a non-practising barrister whose initial career was in marine insurance where he specialised in oil pollution of the sea.

After a Sloan Fellowship at the London Business School in 1986-87 he branched out into other fields and has held directorships of several companies.

He has been involved in the care of people with learning disabilities as an owner/operator since 1997 and is closely involved with the operation of the services provided.

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Lucy Jolliffe

Commercial Director

Lucy joined the company in 2010 to run the accounts function having already achieved her CIMA accountancy qualification. As the company has expanded so has Lucy’s role and responsibilities, being appointed to Commercial Director in 2016 to oversee the accounts, Human Resources and Marketing functions for the group.
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Nicholas Faulkner-Elliott

Director

Nic joined Autonomy Life Limited in November 2020. He has worked in a number of different care settings spanning over 20 years including Children's SMEH/LD and adult community and residential settings.

He has worked primarily with people with complex needs and challenging behaviour across these settings.

Further to this Nic started a consultancy and training role nationwide, working in both children's and adult services to support each service in delivering quality and person centred care. He then went onto obtaining his Level 4 Management Award (RMA), Level 3 Award in Education and IOHS in addition to the relevant mandatory training requirements.

Nic is the Responsible individual for Autonomy’s children’s services and the Nominated individual for the Autonomy’s adult services. Nic became a Director within the Autonomy Group of companies in 2023.

He is a strong believer in person centred care, developing staff and encouraging people to reach their full potential.

Mandy Kerley

Mandy Kerley

Non-Executive Director

Mandy qualified as an accountant in 1994 and has worked mainly in professional practice, apart from several years working as the in house accountant for a large farming organisation near Ross on Wye. Mandy’s connection with Autonomy Care Group goes back to 2004, initially working for the external accountants who prepared the annual financial accounts, finally taking on that role herself in 2008. It has been a long and happy association with the Group with Mandy having various roles over the years, more latterly as the Company Secretary. Mandy joined Autonomy Care Group as their Non-Executive Director in December 2023.

Paul Chester

Paul Chester

Service Manager

Paul started his care career in 1994 - 1999 with the Royal National Institute for Deaf People. During this time he supported individuals with various learning/physical disabilities and sensory/dual sensory loss and obtained his Care Certificate Level 3.
In 1999 - 2017 Paul worked for Wiltshire Council, firstly in the residential services then a benchmark Care Officer (Senior) within the Adults Respite Services supporting people with a learning/physical disabilities on short term planned visits or emergency placements. During this time he was lucky enough to work in all the local authority services and gained some wonderful knowledge and experience before obtaining his BTEC in First-Line Management and his Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care -Adults Advanced Practice.
After obtaining his management qualifications, Paul worked as Deputy Manager, Team Leader and Manager within various services.
In 2017 – 2019 he worked for Voyage Care, managing two residential services and also for a short while a supported living service covering Wiltshire and Swindon. 2019 – 2023 he joined Nobeck Limited as an IT Infrastructure Operations Manager for a change of sector, but realised he missed the care sector too much. Paul joined Autonomy Life in November 2023.
Saskia

Saskia Morpus-Connery

Assistant Manager

Saskia has worked in the Health and Social Care sector since the age of 18, in different nursing and care homes. Saskia specialised in Dementia, Nursing Care and Palliative Care. She left the care sector  briefly to join a Domiciliary Optician for 3 years but then found her calling with learning and physical disabilities support work during the pandemic. Saskia joined Autonomy Care Group in August 2021, starting as Care Coordinator for Autonomy Care and then joined Autonomy Life as Assistant Manager in May 2023 working at the Willows. She is currently completing her Lead Practitioner in Adult Care Level 4 Apprenticeship through Autonomy Academy and is looking forward to starting her Level 5 once completed. She has a passion for supporting people to live an independent life and ensuring that their time within the service is meaningful, person-centred, and caring. Saskia lives with her Husband, 2 dogs; Molly and Woody, one of whom is a rescue.

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Adina Iures

Registered Manager

Adina has been working at The Oaks for over 10 years. She started as a Support Worker, progressing to Team Leader and now she is the Registered Manager.

Adina has achieved her Level 2 in Health and Social Care, Level 2 in Team Leading and QCF Level 5 in Health and Social Care. She also has a degree in Psychology achieved at the University in Bucharest.

She enjoys working with people with challenging behaviour and finds her job really rewarding. She believes that when you work in care you need to have empathy for the people that you support, and they will reward you back with happiness and progression.

Claire

Claire Hawkins

Assistant Manager

Claire started her journey with Autonomy Care Group in 2010 when she joined the Autonomy Life team as a Support Worker.

Her achievements include Health and Social Care NVQ Level 2, ICQ Level 3 Diploma in Health and Social Care and ICQ Intermediate Level 2 Apprenticeship in Team Leading.

In 2018 Claire Joined the domiciliary side of the business at Autonomy Care as a Care-Coordinator. Claire was able to expand and utilise her extensive knowledge in supporting adults with learning disabilities and complex behavioural needs.

The role enabled Claire to take on more managerial responsibilities and she is currently working towards a Level 5 Leadership and Management Diploma in Health and Social Care.

Autonomy Life - Weavers Lodge:

 

Nick Rickwood

Nick Rickwood

Service Manager

Nick started as a Support Worker supporting adults with learning disabilities in 1992 . He then developed his knowledge and practice by qualifying as a Drama Therapist, before then qualifying as an Adult Teacher to support staff and staff teams development. 

In 2003, Nick progressed into the role of a Registered Manager for Somerset County Council, where he remained for 14 years, managing residential, supported living, domiciliary care, and day support services.  

Nick has an additional 4 years experience of directly supporting managers and their services through more senior management roles and for 2 ½ years he supported the Royal Air Force Association Charity by managing one of their registered hotel services for Veterans. 

In his long career, Nick has successfully worked with individuals, their families, community partners and other agencies/services to design and deliver individualised and highly qualitative, outcome-based services, that places the individual at the heart of their services and local community, and in control of their own lives.

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Samantha O'Dwyer

Registered Manager

Samantha has over 29 years experience in residential care for the elderly. Her career started in 1994 as a Junior Care Assistant in a care home, as she progressed her role to Senior Care Assistant. Samantha worked up the career ladder to Assistant Manager before becoming Home Manager for 2 years.

She started at Autonomy Care in our Melksham domiciliary service in November 2021 and enjoyed her position as Assistant Manager. Samantha is now the Registered Manager for the service.
She has always been very passionate about care and making a difference to people’s lives.

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Mike Evans

Registered Manager

Mike started working in care in 2010, working with vulnerable adults with learning disabilities. 5 years later Mike began working in childcare, working with children with autism and associated disabilities. 
In 2018 Mike became a Registered Manager, managing a small home for children with learning disabilities before joining Autonomy Plus in November 2019. He has enjoyed the past 3 years developing the home for the children at Haresfield, to help enable them to have the best opportunities to make their lives as fulfilled as possible.

Jordan

Jordan Baker

Assistant Manager

Jordan has been working with children with disabilities and behaviours that challenge for over 10 years. He has worked in both private and public settings and specialises in Autism/ADHD and other behaviours that challenge. He was previously based in Cornwall and Cardiff where he gained his degree in Health and Social Care. He was originally a Senior for Autonomy Plus, and is now the Assistant Manager for Haresfield.

Behaviour Support

Bethan Lepley

Bethan Lepley

PBS Manager

Bethan started her career in care as a Support Worker and immediately fell in love with Health and Social Care. After studying for her Post-Graduate Qualification in Applied Behaviour Analysis, Bethan registered with the UKSBA and started working as a Behaviour Specialist. Bethan is passionate about delivering the best quality Positive Behavioural Support to help improve people’s quality of life. Bethan started with Autonomy Care in February 2024.

Autonomy Care Group - Head Office:

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Hazel Wordley

HR Manager

Hazel joined Autonomy Care Group in August 2017 as HR Executive to support the group and service managers with all aspects of Human Resources. The department has since grown from a standalone person to a team of four. Hazel is responsible for managing the HR team and is currently studying her Level 7 Diploma in HR Management.
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Stephanie Newman

HR Officer

Stephanie's career began in fashion retail 26 years ago, progressing through the company to area Learning and Development Assistant. Stephanie moved from fashion retail into interior design as a store manager in 2010. After promotion within the same company to HR and Central Operations Manager, she enrolled on the CIPD Level 5 Diploma in Human Resource Management, graduating in October 2018. She joined the Autonomy Care Group Team in September 2020 as HR Officer to support the growth of services group wide. Stephanie is also a qualified Mental Health First Aider, after achieving her qualification in 2022.

Outside of work, she is a keen crafter and dog lover.

Ciara Botham

Ciara Botham

HR Assistant

After studying for her A-levels, Ciara joined Autonomy Care Group in August 2023, starting her HR career. Since starting, she has developed a passion for her role and is continuing to progress in her CIPD Level 3 qualification at Lackham college.

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Sophie Clark

Finance Manager

Sophie has been working in accounts for nearly 9 years. Starting in an accountancy practice dealing with various small and medium sized businesses mainly in the construction industry.

After a successful time in practice she decided to explore a new sector, joining Autonomy Care Group in February 2021 as a Finance Manager.

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Kayleigh Neech

Finance Manager

Kayleigh’s career in finance began over 10 years ago when she enrolled in AAT Level 2 at Trowbridge College and started working as an Accounts Assistant. Since then, she has completed her AAT studies and is now working to obtain her ACCA accountancy qualification, gaining finance experience in a variety of sectors. She joined Autonomy Care Group as a Finance Manager in November 2020 to support business growth.

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Lashana Hutchinson

Accounts Assistant

After studying her A-Levels Lashana joined Autonomy Care Group in February 2024, starting her Accountancy career. Since starting, she has developed a passion for her role and is looking forward to continuing to progress in further studies in the near future.

 

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Jen Latham

Digital Marketing Lead

After completing her Degree and Masters in Film Production, Jen learnt many key skills in campaigning and the art of Digital Marketing. Jen now has over 7 years experience in marketing over a variety of different sectors and brings her core skills in Social Media, Content Writing and Brand Awareness to Autonomy Care Group.

Jen joined Autonomy Care Group in December 2019 after relocating from Manchester.